Introduction:
Hebrews 10:24-25
Acts 10:42, 1 Tim 4:1-2
1 Tim 4:13
1 Tim 2:1,8 , Col 4:2
Eph 5:19, Col 3:16
John 4:23-24
All In On Truth (1 Chronicles 13:3-14)
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Good intentions and enthusiasm != TRUE WORSHIP.
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It is PERILOUS to worship God CARELESSLY .
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We worship God WHO IS WITH US.
John 14:16–18
1 Cor 3:16
1 Cor 6:19-20
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:43-00:45
Well, good morning, Harvest, and Happy New Year.
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Open your Bibles, please, to 1 Chronicles, Chapter 13.
00:51-01:03
It'll be in the Old Testament, 1 Chronicles, Chapter 13, and if you want, you can put a little bookmark at Chapter 15 because we're going to be looking there briefly as well.
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This morning, we're beginning a three-week series on worship.
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Now there's of course many ways that we worship, prayer, preaching, proclaiming the gospel.
01:15-01:33
I think it's fair to say that for everyone who is a believer in Christ, whatever we do is worship. Everything we do should be for the glory of God. There are right ways and there are wrong ways to worship God. At Harvest, we follow something known as the regulative principle.
01:34-01:44
That simply means that if a type of worship is not permitted in Scripture, we don't do it. We don't get to worship God however we want to.
01:46-02:29
We must worship Him in the way that He commands. And you may wonder, "Why do we do the things we do here in worship every Sunday? What... who makes that up?" Well, it's not made up. We do what God's words what God's Word says to. So you'll notice that every Sunday we meet together, we preach God's Word, we read God's Word, we pray, and we sing. Now, while those are ways in which we are commanded to worship, this three-week series is going to focus particularly on worshiping through music and singing.
02:30-03:26
Our starting point for all three of these messages is John chapter 4 verses 23 and 24. "But the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." So we see that from these verses, the right way to worship God is spirit and truth. In two weeks, Pastor Taylor is going to cover why worshiping in spirit and truth through music and song is so important. Next week, Pastor Jeff will take us through what it means to worship in spirit. And then this morning's message is about worshiping God in truth. So here's the point of this week's sermon.
03:27-04:38
The Lord God Almighty delights to be with us, but we must have regard for his holiness and worship him according to his commands. You see, when we worship God that way, when we worship God in truth, it means the words we sing to and about him are true. By singing true words about God, we're able to remember later what is true, and we learn sound doctrine. If you've ever memorized Scripture through singing or you've sung the old hymns that are just chock-full of biblical truth, you know what I mean. When we worship God in truth, the truth fills us with awe. We are moved emotionally, we're moved physically by the truth that we sing. Now at Harvest we don't use, you know, strobe lights, flashing lights, fog machines, loud music, and other tactics to manipulate you into thinking that you're worshiping just because you're experiencing one sensory overload after another. But if what we sing is true, then truth will fill us and flow out of us.
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When we worship God in truth, we recognize that singing his praises is of of the utmost importance to Him.
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He's worthy of our praises.
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He's worthy of all our songs about Him.
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He commands our praises.
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He expects it.
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The book of Psalms is proof of that.
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We should therefore make every effort to worship Him the right way, because that pleases and glorifies Him.
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Let's pray.
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Oh, most gracious God, sovereign of the universe, God most high, you are awesome and mighty, and you are worthy of all praise.
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You are worthy of all of our attention.
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You are worthy of every thought.
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You are worthy of every song we can sing, because Lord, you are holy and you dwell in the praises of your people.
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I pray this morning that we would overflow in worshipful song, because we know the truth.
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We know the truth of who Jesus Christ is, and what he has done for us, and that he is in us.
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And it's in his great name we ask it, amen.
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Now this morning's passage recounts when David wanted to bring the Ark of the Covenant, the ark of God to Jerusalem to be near him.
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The passage contrasts the wrong way to worship God with the right expression of awe and reverence for God Almighty.
06:23-06:26
Before we dive into this message, I need to give you some background.
06:26-06:29
We need to do a brief history lesson.
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So you probably all know God chose and called the people of Israel out of Egypt so that he could be with them.
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And the primary way that he demonstrated his presence with the people of Israel was through a movable tabernacle.
06:48-06:56
That's simply a large tent, and it was surrounded by a big fabric courtyard and poles.
06:57-06:59
But inside the tent, there were two separate places.
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There was the holy place, and that was furnished with the Ark of Incense and a table in which bread was placed every week, and a lamp, a gold lamp to give light.
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And then on the eastern side of this tent was basically a cube-shaped area.
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It was about 15 by 15 by 15.
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It was a perfect cube.
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And that was the most holy place, the Holy of Holies.
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And it contained the Ark of the Covenant.
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In other places in scripture, it's called the Ark of God, the Ark of Testimony. Now in Exodus 25, God gave some very specific directions for the Ark's construction and its significance. It was a wooden box, it was about 45 inches long, 27 inches high, 27 inches wide, not that big. And then the wood was overlaid with gold and then on top was a solid gold lid. It was all hammered out of one piece of gold and there were two cherubim on the top. So this is just a very simple example of of what it might look like. We can't really speak in detail now about what the Ark looked like, but we have the description in Scripture. Now this lid with the cherubim was also called the mercy seat and it was significant for several reasons. One, the Lord was said to be enthroned above the cherubim. And two, the Lord spoke to Moses from between the cherubim. And then a third reason is on the annual day of atonement, the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies and he would sprinkle blood on the lid to atone for the people's sins. It's in this way that the Lord tabernacled or dwelled between the two cherubim on the lid of the ark. In this way, the Lord was present with his people. And the people knew God was with them because in the daytime there was a pillar of cloud over the tabernacle and at night it became a pillar of fire. And whenever that pillar moved up and forward, it was safe for the Levites, the priests, to go in, pack up the ark, pack up the tabernacle, and move it to wherever God was leading them. He took them wherever he wanted them to go. Now specific instructions about how the Ark was to be moved and by whom. Only the Levites, and of the Levites a clan called the Kohathites, were allowed to carry the holy things, including the Ark. Now this Ark was meant to be portable. It was carried on poles, passed through gold rings, that those rings were attached to the feet of the ark and in that way the ark was lifted up over the priests heads when they carried it so all the people could see the ark was with them. Now these poles were never supposed to be removed from the ark and before the ark was moved it was supposed to be hidden. They put a big goat skin over it and then they covered it with a blue cloth and then that's they would pick it up and and they would move it.
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Now let's move ahead in time about 400 years to the end of the period of the judges in 1 Samuel.
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At that time, there was a man named Eli.
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He was the high priest.
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And during this time, the Israelites fought a battle against their arch enemies, the Philistines, and they were defeated.
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The Philistines walloped the Israelites.
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And they're like, oh, what are we gonna do?
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What are we gonna do?
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know, let's go bring the Ark of the Testimony to us. Let's bring it into the camp with us, thinking this will bring us victory. And they were instead defeated in a very great slaughter. And Eli's two sons, they were killed and the Ark was captured by the Philistines and taken away. When Eli heard his sons were dead and the ark was captured, he fell backwards over on his chair and broke his neck and he died. This had to be a terribly bleak time for Israel. Their God, their God was captured. They had no priests, they had no prophets, and as yet they had no king. Their whole identity as a people has been overthrown in a day.
11:45-15:37
Now the Philistines they took the Ark to the city of Ashdod and they put it in the temple of their God named Dagon and the statue of Dagon fell face down in front of the Ark. So they picked him back up and set him up again. They come in the next day and this time the God Dagon has fallen over again but this time his head is busted off and his hands are broken off and something else happens. The Lord begins terrifying the people of Ashdod with plague and tumors and death. So the Philistines in Ashdod, they take the ark to Gath, another Philistine city, and the people there also suffered from plague and tumors and death. So they pick it up and they move it again to the city of Ekron and guess what happens? The people there experience plague, sickness, death, and they're like, "Okay, enough of this." Enough of this, they decide to return the ark to Israel after seven months of being afflicted by God. So the Philistines, they're like, "What do we do with this?" They put the ark on a brand new cart and they hitch it to two milking cows. And the cows, instead of trying to go back to be with their calves, their babies, they instead they go straight up to a place in Israel called Beth Shemesh. The Israelites at Beth Shemesh, they rejoiced to see the ark returned. But when some of the men of Beth Shemesh apparently looked into the ark, the Lord struck down 70 of them. So the people of Beth Shemesh asked the people in another town called Kiriath-Jerim, "Come and get the ark from us," which they did. So the men of Kiriath-Jerim brought the ark to the house of a man named Abinadab. They consecrated his son Eleazar to oversee and the Ark remained there, the Bible says, for some 20 years. Now after David becomes king, you know this is a period of time Saul was king, he is dead, Jonathan is dead, David has become king, he is now established in Jerusalem as his capital, and David's got this idea he wants to bring the Ark of God from Kiriath-Jerim to Jerusalem. So David gets all the commanders, all the priests, and the Levites together to get their concurrence with his idea. And now we pick up at our account in Chronicles chapter 13. "Then let us bring again the ark of our God to us," David says, "for we did not seek it in the days of Saul. All of all the people. So David assembled all Israel from the Nile of Egypt to Lebohemoth to bring the ark of God from Kiriath-jerim. And David and all Israel went up to Bala, that is Kiriath-jerim, that belongs to Judah, to bring up from there the ark of God which is called by the name of the Lord who sits enthroned above the cherubim. And they carried the ark of God on a new cart from the house of Abinadab, and Uzzah and Ahio were driving the cart, and David and all Israel were celebrating before God with all their might, with song and lyres and harps and tambourines and cymbals and trumpets." So this is quite a procession, quite a big celebration.
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It brings us to our first point. Good intentions and enthusiasm don't equal true worship.
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There are some huge red flags in this account. As king, actually David's a prince really because the Lord is still the true king. I know the Bible calls David King David. He's really a prince of the true king, but as King David wants God's presence near him. The Lord has established David in Jerusalem over Israel, and to have the Ark of the Covenant nearby would really cement the relationship between God and the house of David.
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It was a shrewd religious and political move on David's part.
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But notice in this account, David doesn't seek God's counsel about moving the ark.
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David knew what he wanted, and he apparently expected God to bless this plan. It's a good thing, right? Bring the ark up to Jerusalem? I mean, after all, God had blessed David up to this point. So David just gathers counselors around him to agree with him, and they go off and they do just whatever it is they want to do. And you notice the phrase, "the thing was right in the eyes of all the people." If you're familiar with the book of Judges, you know there's flashing red lights and and warning sirens going off all over the place. The leaders of Israel may have all agreed, but if something is wrong, widespread agreement doesn't make it right. Not one of the priests or Levites seem to have suggested consulting the Lord or the Law of Moses before doing this thing. And then to move the Ark, what do they do? They put it on a cart. "Oh, but it was a new cart," you say. "Well, let's should please the Lord, right?
17:41-18:44
Look, Lord, Lord, Lord, look at this fancy set of wheels we got for you. Aren't you impressed finest cedar from Lebanon the problem is they're copying the Philistines rather than consulting God or the law of Moses so they got the large all loaded up they got a big procession almost 30,000 people can you imagine 30,000 people that's 12,000 more people than fit in PPG paints arena just just for perspective. 30,000 people with David and they're celebrating with all their might, they're singing and praising with lots of instruments, the lyres, the harps, castanets, cymbals, trumpets, they have every intention of worshiping the Lord and they're super enthused and this is just all quite a spectacle. It looks impressive, it sounds good, but they're more interested in putting on a show than worshiping God.
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It was more about their worship experience. It was more about what David wanted than worshiping the Lord. It was more about what they perceived God would approve without confirming than it was about worshiping God as he commanded. And that's the core problem here. They're not worshiping the Lord the way he commanded.
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They're not worshiping in truth. They don't even seem to have the slightest interest in truth. Where? Where was the counsel of the high priest and the Levites? Where was prayer in the simple request, "Lord, what do you want?" Where are the Kohathites and the Poles to carry the ark above the heads of the people?
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Where is the reverence and the awe due to the Lord? Now, you can manufacture enthusiasm while singing. You know, that's why so many churches, they use the lights and the fog and the beautiful moving images and the sonic walls of ear-popping sounds and drums and squealing singers gesturing wildly. It looks worshipy, it sounds worshipy, it probably even feels worshipy. Therefore, I must be worshipping God. Have you ever heard people say, "Oh, worship today was great. I had a great worship experience." Have you ever said that? What was it that made it the worship great? The sonic boom or the truth of God? Did you sing songs about yourself or songs that praise God's character, mercy, grace, and love? Were you pleased with yourself or did you please your God by worshiping him in truth? Now some of you hearing this are probably congratulating yourself right now. That's right, Sprunk.
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That's right. I agree with everything you've said. All that exuberance, it's all fake. It's all performance. I just don't see what all the fuss is about. Why?
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That's why when there's singing going on, I just, I keep my cool. I keep my reserve.
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Well good, if you're thinking along those lines, that's good because this next point is just for you. Because just as good intentions and enthusiasm don't equal true worship, it is perilous to worship God carelessly. Look at verse 9, "And when they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzzah put out his hand to take hold of the ark, for the oxen stumbled, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah and he struck him down because he put his hand to the ark and he died there before God. And David was angry because the Lord had broken out against Uzzah, and that place is called Peraz-Uzzah to this day. And David was afraid of God that day, and he said, "How can I bring the ark of God home to me?" So David did not take the ark home into the city of David, but took it aside to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. And the ark of God remained with the household of Obed-Edom and his house three months. And the Lord blessed the household of Obed-Edom and all that he had." We may be shocked that God struck down Uzzah for touching the ark.
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I mean, can you imagine this procession of 30,000 people and boom, Uzzah's dead.
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Well, that would take the wind out of the celebration, wouldn't it?
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Try to think what that might have looked like. Well, if you were in Butler on July 20, July 18, 2024, and there was an assassination attempt, you probably know what it felt like.
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If you saw Charlie Kirk murdered, that's what it was like.
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But God struck us a down and but you may think well, what's the big deal?
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Why did he do that?
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They were worshiping Well, we've seen there were multiple things wrong with the way david and the israelites treated the ark of god Number one they copied the philistines. They're worshiping like pagans And pagans don't know the truth They treated the holy lord god most high the holy lord of israel shabbily they treated God like baggage in a wooden cart. They were careless and unconcerned whether their worship obeyed the truth or expressed the truth. And we know Israel had a history of careless, half-hearted worship. We saw that in the book of Judges, the people, after they were settled in the land, they became idolatrous and careless in their worship. They served other gods and they treated the ark as if it was some sort of good luck charm, a lucky rabbit's foot. They had no qualms about taking the ark from the Holy of Holies and carrying it around wherever they liked. "Take it down to the battle," they said. "God will fight for us," they said. "You got another thing coming," God said. And everything was lost because of their insolence. The Philistines, they thought they had completely defeated the Israelites. "We've captured Israel's God," they said. "We'll put him in the temple of our God Dagon and he'll worship our God," they said. "You've got another thing coming," God said. For their insolence, God busted up Dagon and afflicted the Philistines with sickness and death until they sent the ark back Israelite territory. And after the Ark returned to Israel's territory, the people of Beth Shemesh wanted to get a look at the most holy thing in the nation. They treated the Ark like a curiosity, as something that they were consecrated and qualified to look at. "Oh, God has returned to us," they said. "Let's "You've got another thing coming," God said.
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And 70 men of Beth Shemesh were struck down for their insolence.
25:25-25:34
And then 20 years after the ark was moved to Kiriath-Jerim, David proposes to bring the ark to Jerusalem. "God's established me as king over Israel," he said.
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"It's right in our own eyes to bring the ark to Jerusalem," they said. "Let's put it on a new cart like the Philistines did," they said.
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"Let's worship and celebrate with all our might and loud instruments," they said.
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"You got another thing coming," God said. And Uzzah was struck down for the people's insolence. You see, David and the priests and the Israelites treated God with contempt, and God said, "Enough!" And David was rightly afraid of God, but know he was also angry, but it was a self-pitying anger. David was angry because he didn't get his way. He was angry like Cain when God rejected Cain's act of self-centered worship. Angry like someone who knows he hasn't done his best, he hasn't done something right, but he wants approval anyway. But God is not mocked.
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God was not going to allow David and the priests to disobey his commands and still claim that they were Worshiping him properly We should see that it is perilous to worship God carelessly David had to learn and although the text doesn't say perhaps he repented of his irreverent worship He was after all a man after God's own heart And when he heard that Obed-Edom was blessed by God, he realized it was possible to bring the ark to Jerusalem, but he had to do it the right way.
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So turn ahead to 1 Chronicles chapter 15.
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We're going to look at verses 11 through 15.
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Then David summoned the priests, Zadok and Abiathar, and the Levites, Uriel, Esaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Abinadab, and said to them, "You are the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites. Consecrate yourselves, you and your brothers, so that you may bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to the place I have prepared for it, because you did not carry it the first time the Lord our God broke out against us, because we did not seek him according to the rule. So the priests and the Levites consecrated themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, and the Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders with the poles as Moses had commanded according to the word of the Lord. This time David does it the right way. The priests consecrate themselves. They prepare through sacrifice and washing and abstaining from anything that would make them ritually unclean. Each one got himself ready for worship. They follow the Lord's command when they carry the ark. They lift up the ark and they revere the Lord as holy in the sight of all the people. In short, they now worship according to the word of the Lord. And the Lord showed he he was pleased with their reverence by allowing David to finally bring the ark to Jerusalem. Likewise, when we worship the Lord in truth and according to his command, he is pleased. All right, so you've been listening intently to all of this, you've been maybe taking some notes, you understand good intentions and enthusiasm don't necessarily equal true worship. You recognize it's perilous to worship God carelessly. You may even be persuaded that you need to worship the Lord in truth. But how? How do we do this and what does that even look like? Well, we worship in truth when we worship God who is with us. When I was preparing this sermon, I recalled seeing a series of memes a few years ago that contrasted an event or thing that was brutal with another thing or event that was epic. So I asked some folks familiar with cutting-edge technology, cutting-edge social media, you know, like MySpace and Vine and Friendster, "Did you guys remember those memes?" And they're like, "No, we don't remember that at all." And I'm like, "Wow, aren't you people on Parler?" Well, anyway, anyway, I know, I know I did not imagine those memes that juxtaposed brutal and epic themes. Now, have you, have you ever encountered a brutal or brute fact that has set or altered your plans? Perhaps altered the trajectory of your life.
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You know, brute facts are hard, unalterable truths.
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An incurable illness, being laid off, a debilitating injury.
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Now, not all brute facts are so dramatic, but we have to reckon with them.
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We must adapt and come to terms with them.
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When I was in 10th grade, I had the ambition to row in college.
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And one day, the University of Washington's head coach visited our school.
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And the University of Washington has one of the premier rowing programs, collegiate programs, in the country.
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And their head coach came to our school after our men's heavyweight four won the American Schoolboy Championship.
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Now, I wasn't in that boat, but I was pretty excited about this coach's visit.
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And I was standing in the hallway, and he shook my hand.
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Nice to meet you.
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And the brute fact was brought home to me that his interest was in oarsmen who were 5 foot 10 and taller.
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I had to face the brute fact that I was too short to row for any college program.
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I still am.
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Now that might seem like a silly example, but our lives are filled with inalterable facts.
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They are the truths we must face.
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Our intellectual and physical characteristics can only be changed so much.
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Some of our earlier poor choices in life may have had consequences for the rest of our life.
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Choices or decisions made by others may affect our careers, our health, our relationships.
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All of us must face a variety of inconsequential to life-altering brutal facts.
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But there is one glorious fact so enormous in its scope, so epic in its immeasurable proportions, that all the brute facts of our lives pale in comparison. There is an epic truth that ought to completely transform how we think, how we live, and yes, how we worship.
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It is quite simply this. If you have trusted Jesus Christ for salvation, He abides in you.
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Christ in you is your hope of glory. It's very simple. I repent, I believe in Jesus, and now I possess Jesus." Now recall from the introduction to this message that when God wanted to dwell with his chosen people, he did so through the Ark of the Covenant. That simple box containing two tablets of the law and placed in the most holy place was how God chose to tabernacle with and dwell with and be with his people.
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John chapter 1 verse 14 tells us, "The word became flesh and dwelt among us." The word translated "dwelt" there is literally "tabernacled." Jesus tabernacled among us. Jesus was the most holy place, the holy of holies in the flesh walking among his people. The world's religious systems have nothing like this. We understand God is absolute power but yet he's personal. Islam has an absolute God in Allah but he is in no way personal to his people. Zeus and the variety of Greek and Roman gods, they were personal, they looked very human, but not a single one of them had absolute power.
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Christianity is unique in the fact that the absolute sovereign of the universe humbly dwells with us in a personal way. There is no other religion, no other system that compares with, comes close to, the way of Christ. Now you might say, "Well, he's not tabernacling or dwelling with us now, is he?" I mean, even the most ardent followers of Christ can get a bit muddled in their thinking about Jesus' present location. I mean, I thought he ascended to heaven, he's at the right hand of God the Father. Well, he did. He is there. But if you stop there, you may tend to think that Jesus is far away from us. You might think he's like, well, he's like a regional supervisor in a big corporation. He's given us a list of commands to follow, we got to check off our list and make sure we're good.
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And you know he checks in occasionally to see how we're doing and you know he approves or critiques our performance. We have weekly meetings, right, every Sunday we have weekly meetings, we get a message from headquarters, we have a musical pep rally, and then we get on with our week. Well if you think in any way like that You are mistaken.
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Jesus is not limited by time or space or location.
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When you think that way about worshiping Jesus, you neglect this great truth from John chapter 14, verses 16 through 18.
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Jesus told his disciples, "I will ask the Father, "and he will give you another helper to be with you forever.
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"Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him.
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You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you." So where is Jesus? Yes, at the right hand of the Father, and present in everyone who believes in him through the Holy Spirit.
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1 Corinthians reinforces this truth.
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Look at verse 16 in chapter three.
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Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you?
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And then chapter six, verses 19 and 20.
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Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?
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You are not your own.
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you were bought with a price, so glorify God in your body." The Greek word translated as temple in these verses is naos, N-A-O-S, naos, and it refers to the most holy place, the holy of holies, where the ark was kept. You see, beloved, we are living, breathing, portable tabernacles, holy places in whom Christ abides. And the law is now written on our hearts instead of stone tablets.
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We must embrace this truth and worship in it and out of it and through it. The spirit of Christ in you ought to be calling out to the Father and worshiping him in truth. This awesome, glorious, almighty, omnipotent creator and master of the heavens and earth humbly dwells with you and makes you his friend. Jesus promises to abide in us and he calls us to come and abide in him. What is your response? Maybe you're hearing this truth for the first time and you're overjoyed by this jaw-dropping reality and you're ready to praise him in song right now. Or maybe you've just considered this in passing but you think that Holy Spirit stuff isn't that for the charismatics?
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And I don't feel, I don't feel the Spirit of God dwelling in me. It's not about feeling the Spirit of God indwelling all believers is presented as a statement of fact it is true of all believers look again at first Corinthians chapter 6 19 and 20 do you not know your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you not outside of you we don't have to ask him to come and visit us in this place we don't have to ask him to fall on us or anything like that he is always with us in us you're not your own you were bought with a price so glorify God in your body this is not some charismatic mumbo-jumbo you don't need a second baptism you don't need an infilling of the Holy Spirit because when you heard the Word of Truth, the gospel of your salvation and you believed in Jesus, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. You have all the fullness of Christ in you right now. You have all of him that you could ever need. All of us together being built up into a holy temple have all the fullness of Christ in us. Everything that is his is ours already. You don't need more of him. He simply wants more of you. Every day he calls you to abide more deeply in him.
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Here's the problem. Some, maybe many of you, don't live in this truth and you don't worship out of it. Maybe it's because you're just learning about it.
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Maybe it's because you don't understand the scope of this epic truth yet. But it would be really, really bad if you understood this truth and up to this point in time you've been careless about it. You know, it's okay if I'm habitually late to worship? I don't feel like singing anyway," you say. You hang out in the kitchen area and you chit-chat with friends because fellowship is more important than singing, you say. When you are present, your hands are in your pockets, your arms are crossed, you won't open your mouth to sing. God knows I can't sing, he doesn't expect it, you say. It's my choice whether I sing, even if commands it, you say. You, you may have another thing coming. You treat God shabbily and carelessly. You don't value or appreciate the truth that He dwells in you. Instead, you act like He's remote and disinterested. Instead of deep calling out to deep, you quench the Spirit and you insolently behave in a way that's right in your own eyes. With such worship, God is not pleased, and you are testing his patience. Repent. Repent right now and every day this week for treating the Lord Jesus Christ with contempt. Repent and earnestly seek his face. Here is your assignment this week. Read and reread John 14, verses 15 through 23, and then get flat on your face and ask him to reveal both in your heart and your mind the truth that he dwells with you. Ask him to help you to live and praise out of the truth that you are his tabernacle. He delights to dwell with you, and he delights to hear you sing his praises.
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Now the worship team is going to come back up and help us to worship the Lord in truth.
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Singing his praise is of the utmost importance to him. Right now, you have the opportunity to praise the Lord in truth. Right now, make every effort to get yourself to the throne of grace with your brothers and sisters and glorify your Father and your Savior in truth.
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Because if you didn't know it before today, you do now.
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You were redeemed to worship and glorify him.
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It is your purpose and privilege to worship God who is with us.
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Our closing prayer this morning is from Psalm 98.
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Oh, sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things.
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His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.
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The Lord has made known his salvation.
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He has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.
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He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel.
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All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
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Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.
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Break forth into joyous song and sing praises.
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Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of melody, with trumpets and the sound of the horn, make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord.
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Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read 1 Chronicles 13:3-14
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
What is at stake in God’s command to worship Him in truth? See, for example, another account of careless and irreverent worship in Leviticus 10:1-3.
Why are good intentions and enthusiasm insufficient for worshiping God in truth? Are they better, about the same, or worse than dead, emotionless, and unresponsive “worship?”
Before this message, what was your understanding of verses describing Christ
abiding in you? (John 14:16-18, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19-20)
How should the fact that Christ abides in us inspire or change the way we
worship?
Breakout
Pray for one another.
